Neural and behavioral data from: A dynamic sequence of visual processing initiated by gaze shifts

Animals move their head and eyes as they explore and sample the visual scene. Previous studies have demonstrated neural correlates of head and eye movements in rodent primary visual cortex (V1), but the sources and computational roles of these signals are unclear. We addressed this by combining measurement of head and eye movements with high density neural recordings in freely moving mice. V1 neurons responded primarily to gaze shifts, where head movements are accompanied by saccadic eye movements, rather than to head movements where compensatory eye movements stabilize gaze. A variety of activity patterns immediately followed gaze shifts, including units with positive, biphasic, or negative responses, and together these responses formed a temporal sequence following the gaze shift. These responses were greatly diminished in the dark for the vast majority of units, replaced by a uniform suppression of activity, and were similar to those evoked by sequentially flashed stimuli in head-fix...